NELLORE: A 24-year-old youth’s bid to garland himself with a snake and get photographed proved fatal. He collapsed, even as people watched in horror the spectacle, soon after he was bitten by the snake at Sullurpeta.
The incident which happened on Monday evening came to light on Tuesday.
The snake charmer, who claimed he had an antidote for any snake-bite, encouraged the youngster to hold the reptile. He immediately vanished from the place soon after the youngster collapsed on the ground much to the shock of the onlookers, whose effort to save him proved futile. The snake charmer had not removed the fangs of the reptile.
According to information, the snake charmer brought a highly venomous snake to Mangalampadu of Sullurpeta town and was displaying it in the street, claiming he had a herb which was an affective antidote for venom. While he was trying to attract onlookers by playing on his ‘pungi’ (a gourd flute), the victim, Ch Jagadish, reached there. The victim had been preparing for competitive exams.
The snake charmer, in a bid to attract people to buy his herb, handed over the snake to Jagadish assuring that there would not be any harm even if the snake bit him. Jagadish took the snake into his hands, played with it and also dared his friends to touch it.
Then he proceeded to wrap the snake around his neck like a garland and asked his friends to click a snap. While he was being photographed, the snake struck Jagadish on his hand. Within minutes, he collapsed and he started to froth. Sensing trouble, the snake charmer fled along with the snake.
Jagadish was shifted to a local hospital where there was no availability of anti-snake venom. By the time he was shifted to a private hospital, he died.